Me and London, we've been going out now for ten years.
It feels like forever, although I know it's nothing in the grand scheme of things.
We had a long courtship. I'd eyed her up from afar when I was young, seen her beauty, admired her style. I always looked up to her, as befits one's elders, and I learned to respect her maturity. As I grew older my feelings blossomed, and I yearned that one day we might be together. But as yet it was not to be.
I toyed with other partners along the way, but they never really worked out. I chanced my luck with several, even had a dalliance with one or two, but never really settled down. And all the time I was circling her, growing closer to her, planning my next move. Until at long last she noticed me, summoned me with a wink of her eye and invited me into her world.
I remember the day I finally moved in and crossed that long-imagined threshold. I turned up at her door with all my baggage, gave a broad smile, and unloaded. I couldn't believe my luck, that all those years of stalking had finally paid off.
I had to learn her ways, adapt to her behaviours, get used to her quirks. I became more keen to test her boundaries, to broaden my horizons, and to lose my small-town innocence. Some of her dirtier habits grossed me out to start with, but now I've grown used to them, even adopted some as my own.
We have lots of adventures together. I like to caress her outer features, the parts most other people never get to see. When I'm bored I like to delve through her extremities, explore her tubes, or go for a poke round her passages. Sometimes I'll suggest a weekend excursion together and she'll bubble with delight.
I don't think she ever sleeps. There's a buzz about her, an excitement, be it the middle of the day or the middle of the night. People come from far and wide to see her, such is her irresistible attraction, and everybody knows her name. But only a select few of us know her inside out, behind the private façade, all those secrets that make her tick.
I love to wake up with her in the morning, and my life feels empty when she's not there. On days when I'm feeling uninspired she has to nudge me into action, but one glance across her face reminds me how much she has to offer. When I'm tired of her, I know, I'll be tired of life.
We've developed a deep understanding between us, a true emotional attachment, a long term intimacy. And I guess that's why I decided all those years ago to display my affection for her every morning, without fail, for the whole world to see.
I never guessed me and her would last so long. But here we are still together, a decade on, and my passion is as strong as ever.
